The excellent adventures of Alex & Jac

The “Beast” (to be named later)

Oh boy, this is exciting. We needed a wagon that would stand the test of many miles and many many countries! There was only one choice; a Land Rover Defender 110 modified into the hell expedition wagon. We’ve just purchased the base vehicle (photo below) from Nene Overland in the UK and they have about a month of work to do on it to get it ready for The Long Way Round journey. For those technically minded, here is the list of mods we are having done: Terrafirma 16″ bead lock rims and BFG 285/75/16 tires. Old man emu plus 2″ H D suspension with Koni Raid heavy duty shock absorbers. Heavy duty front prop shaft with double carbon UJ’s. Full under-body bash plates. Full external roll cage with Hannibal safari roof rack (for extra fuel, water, camping gear, tools) and spider awning. Front mounted Lazer Lamp light bar and rear facing flood light. Raised air intake and wading kit. D44 Winch Bumper, Warn Xeon 10s Winch & Plasma Rope. Front heavy duty CVs, half shafts, rear HD half shafts drive flanges and centre limited slip differential. Front and rear ARB locking differentials / HD compressor. Vortex stainless fuel efficient performance exhaust. Hi Flow Intercooler. Bespoke ECU reconfiguration (that’s a performance chip). Twin dry cell batteries, split charger unit. GPS vehicle tracking, VHF, security stuff, emergency stuff, two spare wheels, self recovery gear and a heap of spare parts and lots more to make it look super cool. Thank God the GBP is dropping in value! Here’s a picture of the starting point. Its a Defender 110 XS Station Wagon – one of the last new ones available in the UK. Watch this space, its going to get a major facelift!